To help readers of The Choice navigate this often complex part of the financial aid process, we have invited Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, to answer select reader questions about the Fafsa in the blog’s Guidance Office, a forum for college applicants and their families seeking expert advice.

In this fifth installment of answers, Mr. Kantrowitz responds to questions about how the Fafsa may affect admissions at schools that are not need-blind, how married students should complete the form, whether male students are required to register for Selective Service to qualify for aid, increasing aid eligibility, using the I.R.S. data retrieval tool, and how grandparents complete the Fafsa as legal guardians of the student.

Some questions, and answers, below have been edited, including for length and style. — Tanya Abrams

Not Seeking Aid, but Filing the Fafsa

Q.

It seems that we will not be eligible for financial aid based on our income and having only one child in college. In this case, it seems best to not apply for financial aid, since many schools are not need-blind. But if we check the box stating we are not seeking financial aid, does that mean we cannot file a Fafsa to make ourselves eligible for student loans?

— Tracy

A.

If you check a box on a college’s financial aid form to indicate that you are not seeking financial aid, you can still file the Fafsa to make yourself eligible for student loans. If you do not list the college on your Fafsa, they will not initially receive the data from the Fafsa.
You could also wait to file the Fafsa until after your student has been admitted. Because all new federal education loans are made through the Direct Loan Program, the college will need to verify that a Fafsa has been filed at the time you apply for federal education loans.

Fafsa for Married Students

Q.

My niece is 18 and is married to a man out of the United States. (He is from China.) She is living with her parents and has no job. Thus, she cannot sponsor her husband to come to the United States yet. She has decided to go to college. We wonder whether she is considered independent (“married”) and does not need to provide her parents’ financial information. Thank you for your help.

— lana

A.

A student who is married to a person of the opposite sex is considered married for federal student aid purposes. Your niece should check the box on the Fafsa indicating that she is married. She will then be considered independent, and parental information will not be required on the Fafsa. It does not matter whether her spouse is a United States citizen or not. Note that an independent student must report any cash support she receives from her parents and her spouse’s parents as untaxed income on the Fafsa.

Selective Service Requirement

Q.

I completed the Fafsa successfully. However, I received an e-mail back that stated that my son needs to be registered with the Selective Service. I have no intention of doing this. How will not being registered affect his application for aid? Will he be excluded from aid from the schools he is applying to or other sources?

— Jeff

A.

A male student who does not register with Selective Service is not eligible for federal student aid. This may also affect eligibility for state grants and, in some states, the ability to matriculate at a public college. If he does not register by age 26, he will never be eligible for federal student aid.

Male students must register with Selective Service, even if they object to military service. If the draft is ever instituted, they will have an opportunity to seek an exemption based on religious or moral grounds.

Paying Off Debt to Increase Aid Eligibility

Q.

My son will be starting college in the fall. Because balances in checking and savings accounts are considered in calculating how much we can contribute, would we be better off paying off a car loan and thereby drawing down a checking account balance?

— Chris

A.

Paying off consumer debt like credit cards and auto loans before filing the Fafsa will reduce reported assets and may lead to an increase in financial aid eligibility. But it may be best to play “what-if” games with an expected family contribution calculator (FinAid has one), to see how much it will affect the expected family contribution (E.F.C.).

Parent assets may have a small impact on the E.F.C. Student assets, on the other hand, are assessed at a 20-percent rate with no asset protection allowance.

Even if there is no benefit on the Fafsa, paying off debt may still be beneficial from a financial planning perspective. For example, if you carry a balance on a credit card with a 14 percent interest rate, paying down the credit card debt is like earning a 14 percent return on investment, tax free. Just be sure to leave yourself with three to six months of salary in a savings account, for emergencies.

I.R.S. Data Retrieval Tool

Q.

Doesn’t the I.R.S. Data Retrieval Tool take some time for the form to be processed? I think people should be aware that they can’t submit their tax forms one day and expect the data to be available for the Fafsa the next. Also, if they file their taxes on paper, the time until the data is available via the retrieval tool is even longer.

— Corris Davis

A.

The I.R.S. Data Retrieval Tool can be used one to two weeks after the federal income tax return is filed, if the return was filed electronically. The tool can be used six to eight weeks after a tax return is filed on paper.

Grandparents as Legal Guardians

Q.

How should questions be answered when the legal guardians are the student’s grandparents? Will it be clear in the question to answer for the guardian? Will the retirement funds of the grandparents be considered? There is a deceased parent and one is noncontributing with no income (no longer legal guardian of the student). Thanks.

— Brenda Haraldstad

A.

If a court of competent jurisdiction in the student’s state of legal residence appointed the grandparents as legal guardians, the student is considered independent and parental information is not required on the Fafsa.

The legal guardianship must have been adjudicated by a court, not a lawyer. Otherwise, the student is considered to still be a dependent student and the student’s parents must complete the Fafsa. The student could appeal to the college financial aid administrator for a dependency override, but parent refusal to support the student is not sufficient grounds for an override.

The grandparents cannot substitute for the parents on the Fafsa unless they have legally adopted the student.

Any support the student receives from the grandparents is reported on the Fafsa as untaxed income to the student, regardless of whether the student is dependent or independent.

Mr. Kantrowitz is no longer taking questions. However, if you would like to continue to discuss the Fafsa and financial aid, please feel free to do so using the comment box below.

I took $2,000.00 out of my IRA prematurely last year. I would normally just use a 1040EZ form to do my taxes. Will I still be able to use this form? If not, what complications am I to expect when filling out my Standard 1040 form? Hope to do taxes myself. Thanks for your help.

I coordinate a scholarship program for our county here in Texas. I visit every senior in the county (Over 2,500) and present FAFSA presentations and I also filled out over 1,000 FAFSAs last year.

Two important things I would like to note from my experience…

1. Regarding Tracy’s question of whether or not to fill out a FAFSA even if they are not seeking financial aid…yes, you would have to fill it out to receive loans. But, to receive ANY financial aid (Athletic scholarships, academic scholarships, scholarships at the college, etc.) you HAVE to fill out a FAFSA. At least here in Texas, colleges will not award ANY funding unless that have a FAFSA on file. No one should ever NOT fill out a FAFSA, regardless of income!

2. Regarding Chris’ question of checking and savings accounts…the FAFSA states, “As of today, how much do you have in cash, savings, or checking…”. Notice the key phrase there, “As of TODAY,”…So, how much money should you have in the student’s accounts when they submit?? As little as possible! We recommend anything over $500 be transferred to a parent’s account or better yet, a sibling’s account. This is a legal loophole on the FAFSA and no one knows about it. Now if the parent is the main account holder, then it will not hurt the student. Only if it is in the student’s name and social security #.

We will not qualify for financial aid, but my daughter might qualify for some merit based or athletic scholarships that require you to file a FAFSA.
Do we have to disclose all of our assets if we are not seeking any financial aid (loan, grant, etc – NOTHING need based)? I do not want to give my private info to the college. Can I just put “more than $xxxx”?

If I hear one more time that “everyone” should file a FAFSA I may scream. Our expected family contribution on any calculator is 3 times the cost of my kids’ college costs. The schools attended give NO merit aid, no athletic scholarships. We do not want loans. We know we are in a small minority, but it is not “everyone.”

After filling out the FAFSA, we have an EFC of $99,999. Our daughter has a 4.0 and stellar SAT scores so we are hoping for some merit aid money but will obviously not qualify for any need-based aid. Is there any point in filling out the CSS Profile for those schools that request it if we will not qualify for any need-based aid? Will schools release merit aid even if they do not receive the CSS Profile from us?

If anyone could give me a straight answer to my problem I’d be most appreciative. I’m 18 years old. My mother died last year while I was 17. I’ve never met my father and he’s not even on my birth certificate. Before my mom died, I had a stepdad (they were married for 5 years tops) BUT he never adopted me. I do still live with him but probably not for long after I get a job and start saving money. Am I an independent? I had 2 school counselors, one Financial Aid advisor from my college, and a Customer Service rep from FASFA tell me I’m independent, but I had a different Financial Aid advisor tell me I’m not and she decided shed go ahead and change my status on the FASFA. I really need to find out what I should do since using my stepdads ( not even really my stepdad legally now) taxes would end up with me getting no money ( he makes a good amount of money himself) and I know he won’t pay for my college, at least not much of it.